Question 18·Hard·Form, Structure, and Sense
Climate historian Annette ______ in the early chapters of her book a compelling argument that today’s severe storms mirror patterns recorded in medieval chronicles, emphasizes that modern preparedness depends on understanding those precedents.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For sentence-structure questions like this, first strip away long descriptive phrases to find the core subject and main verb, then make sure you have only one clear main verb for that subject. Next, plug in each option and check comma placement: avoid putting a comma between a subject and its verb or using a comma alone to join two full predicates. Prefer the choice that creates one clean main clause while any -ing or descriptive phrases are properly set off by commas as modifiers, not as extra main actions.
Hints
Locate the core sentence
Ignore the long middle phrase about "the early chapters of her book." What are the simplest subject and main verb of the sentence?
Count the main verbs
You already have the verb "emphasizes" later in the sentence. Should the blank add another full main verb, or should it add description that leads smoothly into "emphasizes"?
Watch the commas
Pay close attention to where commas appear around the blank. Does any choice incorrectly place a comma between the subject and its verb, or leave a descriptive phrase only half set off by commas?
Step-by-step Explanation
Find the main verb of the sentence
First, locate the main verb that controls the whole sentence.
Read from the comma near the end:
"... chronicles, emphasizes that modern preparedness depends on understanding those precedents."
So the main verb of the sentence is "emphasizes", and everything before it must work together as the subject and its modifiers.
Identify what the blank must do
Now read from the start up to the main verb, skipping the long middle phrase:
"Climate historian Annette ______ in the early chapters of her book a compelling argument that today’s severe storms mirror patterns recorded in medieval chronicles, emphasizes ..."
We already have the main verb emphasizes, so the words in the blank cannot introduce a second, full main verb for the same subject. Instead, they must:
- Complete the subject ("Annette Gordon") and
- Smoothly attach a descriptive phrase before we get to "emphasizes."
So we are looking for a form that works as part of the subject plus a modifier, not a second main action of the sentence.
Test each option for sentence structure and comma use
Plug in each option and focus on structure and punctuation.
Choice A: "Gordon explores"
"Climate historian Annette Gordon explores in the early chapters of her book a compelling argument ... , emphasizes that ..."
Here, "Gordon explores" and "(Gordon) emphasizes" are two main verbs for the same subject joined only by a comma. That creates a comma splice / faulty compound predicate.
Choice C: "Gordon, explores"
"Climate historian Annette Gordon, explores in the early chapters ... , emphasizes that ..."
This puts a comma between the subject and its verb ("Gordon, explores"), which is not correct. We generally do not separate a simple subject and verb with a comma.
Choice D: "Gordon exploring"
"Climate historian Annette Gordon exploring in the early chapters ... , emphasizes that ..."
Here "exploring" is a -ing form that looks like a descriptive participle, but there is no comma after "Gordon" to set off that phrase. Yet there is a comma before "emphasizes," which ends up incorrectly splitting the subject and verb and leaves the modifier unbalanced.
Only one option will treat the -ing form as a proper descriptive phrase set off by commas before the main verb.
Choose the option that creates a clear modifier before the main verb
We want:
- "Climate historian Annette Gordon" as the subject
- A descriptive phrase that explains what she is doing in the early chapters
- That descriptive phrase correctly set off by commas
- Then the main verb "emphasizes"
Choice B gives us exactly that:
"Climate historian Annette Gordon, exploring in the early chapters of her book a compelling argument that today’s severe storms mirror patterns recorded in medieval chronicles, emphasizes that modern preparedness depends on understanding those precedents."
Here, "exploring ..." is a participial phrase describing Annette Gordon, correctly enclosed by commas, and "emphasizes" remains the single main verb. Therefore, the correct answer is B) Gordon, exploring.